The Blockchain momentum is growing across Europe

Telefonica, Central Bank of Azerbaijan and others demonstrate that the blockchain momentum is growing across multiple industries in Europe

According to the IDC, “blockchain spending in Europe is now growing faster than anywhere else.”

Leading European companies are continuing to innovate with blockchain technology, progressing projects from proof of concept to production environments. And many, have selected IBM Blockchain as their partner of choice.

Blockchain in the enterprise

The attributes of blockchain technology are ideally suited to large networks of disparate partners. As such, it represents an attractive technology for large corporations and start-ups alike, with assets spread across the world in various forms.

The blockchain is a distributed ledger technology, which establishes a shared, immutable record of all the transactions that take place within a network. It then enables permissioned parties access to trusted data in real time.

‘By applying the technology to a variety of business processes, a new form of command and consent can be introduced into the flow of information, empowering multiple partners to collaborate and establishing a single shared view of a transaction without compromising details, privacy or confidentiality,’ according to an announcement released today by IBM.

IBM Blockchain

‘The hallmark of IBM’s blockchain business has been the ability to convene broad groups of network participants to embrace a collaborative platform approach to blockchain adoption,’ reads the announcement.

‘These clients are capitalising on the opportunity for greater trust and transparency using blockchain across a variety of industries, for example to better manage the reconciliation of international mobile phone roaming charges, securing digital identity for citizens, and complying with new European banking directives on customer communications.’

IBM has more than 500 blockchain projects globally, and is engaged across all industries. The company notes that European projects, in particular, are on the rise. According to the IDC, “blockchain spending in Europe is now growing faster than anywhere else”.

“From large enterprises to startups, across multiple industries, businesses across Europe are selecting IBM Blockchain,” said Andrew Darley, IBM Blockchain Platform Leader, Europe. “Clients are attracted by the production-readiness of the IBM Blockchain Platform, allowing them to run highly secure networks in any environment of their choosing, on premise, via IBM Cloud, or an increasing number of other industry cloud providers.”

Use cases

European clients are working with IBM to drive blockchain innovation in their industries : Telefónica and IBM are collaborating in the development of a proof of concept based on IBM blockchain technology to help solve one of the major challenges of operators, the management of international mobile phone call traffic.

The project resolves in real time the veracity and traceability of the information generated by the different networks of the operators when they route an international call thanks to a decentralized platform to which all the operators that intervene in the process have access. As a consequence, fraudulent behaviors and discrepancies between the information recorded by each operator are significantly reduced.

The Central Bank of the Republic of Azerbaijan and IBM are developing a Digital Identification System based on Hyperledger Fabric for individuals and legal entities, to verify the reliability of the documents related to them, when individuals or legal entities turn to banks, credit providers and other organizations. The new system will simplify and automate the ‘Know Your Customer’ validation process, and will be used by both clients and credit organisations serving citizens of Azerbaijan.

According to eToro senior market analyst Mati Greenspan, bitcoin is in amidst a parabolic bull cycle and is on track to sustain its strong momentum over the medium to long term.

Since January, within less than six months, the bitcoin price has increased by nearly 100 percent against the U.S. dollar.

With a 98% gain year-to-date, bitcoin has outperformed most assets in 2019
(source: coinmarketcap.com)

Still, despite its large short-term rally, Greenspan noted that the dominant cryptocurrency is only at the start of a bigger cycle that may lead to new highs for the asset.

WHY INDUSTRY EXECUTIVES ARE SO OPTIMISTIC IN BITCOIN

In December 2018, the bitcoin price dropped to its lowest yearly point at $3,150. At the time, even though the industry had demonstrated significant progress in improving the infrastructure supporting the asset class, the sentiment around…

World’s third largest cryptocurrency Ripple (XRP) has appreciated up to 31-percent against the US dollar in just two days.

The XRP-to-dollar exchange rate Tuesday established an intraday high towards $0.405, up 25.05% since the market open on Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange. The pair dropped as much as 5.05-percent ahead of the European session to neutralize its overbought sentiments, finding interim support at $0.384-level.

RIPPLE (XRP) SURGES 25% IN A DAY | SOURCE: TRADINGVIEW.COM, BITSTAMP

The sentiment was the same across the rest of the cryptocurrency index, with almost all the leading cryptocurrency posting surplus intraday gains. Bitcoin (BTC), for instance, extended its rally action to establish a new 2019 peak towards $8,836.19. Ethereum, EOS, and Bitcoin Cash too recorded double-digit percentage gains on a 24-hour adjusted timeframe.

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Facebook, the largest social media giant, made news after it announced that it would launch its own cryptocurrency, Facebook Coin. It was also rumoured that Facebook was looking out for VC firms to invest in their cryptocurrency project, with the targeted sum being “as much as $1 billion.”

Now, according to an official announcement, Facebook is going to lift its ban on cryptocurrency and blockchain related ads on its platform.

The facebook statement read :

“Starting 5 June, we will update our Prohibited Financial Products and Services Policy to no longer allow ads promoting contracts for difference [CFDs], complex financial products that are often associated with predatory behaviour. These products, due to their complexity, often mislead people.”

Facebook had implemented the ban on cryptocurrency ads and promotional campaigns related to blockchains and ICOs back in January 2018. It was believed that the ban was to tackle concerns…

Craig Wright, a man who, as WIRED wrote about back in 2016, either created Bitcoin or very badly wants someone to believe he did.

Now rumours are swirling through the Bitcoin world that Wright himself is poised to publicly claim—and possibly offer some sort of proof—that he really is Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious inventor of Bitcoin. If he does, he’ll have to convince a highly skeptical cryptography community for whom “proof” is a serious word, and one that requires cryptographic levels of certainty.

The suggestion is that Wright, an Australian cryptographer and security professional, has arranged to perform a demonstration for media in London sometime in the next week that’s intended to convince the world he’s bitcoin’s creator.1 Luckily for any legitimate claimant to the Satoshi throne—and for bitcoiners tired of the long succession of unproven candidates and speculation—there are some clear, almost incontrovertible ways for Satoshi Nakamoto to prove himself. When…